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The CICS News Facility (Adding and Updating)

Printable Version

The CICS News facility allows all CICS users to view news items addressed to them. It also provides those with authorized userids to add and update news items.

The facility to view news items is available to all users by typing in NEWS from a clear screen or the blank line next to PF1 on the Main Menu screen and pressing enter. The document "CICS: News Facility (Viewing)" describes the viewing of news.

News items will be available for viewing until they expire. The purge program to remove expired news items will run Monday through Friday after midnight. The default expiration date is 7 days. This date can be changed when adding or changing a news item.

The capabilities to add or update news items are restricted to Offices of Record. The transactions NWSA and NWSU are used. Offices wishing to be able to add or update news should apply for access to the CICS transactions NWSA and NWSU by submitting a System Security Profile (SSP) to the Information Technology Business Office.

To Add a news item:

Type in NWSA on a clear screen or on the blank line of the PF1 choice of the main menu and press enter.

You will get the Morning News Add screen. Option 'A' for Add will already be filled in.

After "Author: " give the specific department, group, or person sending the message. Up to 30 characters may be used.

Fill in the "Route To: " field with one of the following:

a. userid (format: %userid)
b. CICS termid (4 characters)
c. VTAM LU name (format #luname) or
d. group name (format: @group)

To identify the users who should be able to read this news item. If this item may be of interest to all users, type "@ALL". The wild card character is an "*" (asterisk). It can be used in place of any character.

For example, to route to all GE-prefixed userids, type in "%GE****". To send to VTAM LUs, CAF73D01 through CAF73D99, specify "#CAF73D**".

If you wish that the item not be available until a certain date, overtype the current date automatically filled in after "Release News: " with the future date that the news item should be available. The default expiration date for a news item is 7 days past the current date. If you wish to change it, modify the date after "News Expires: ".

Type in the news item. Be as clear and specific as possible.

Press enter. You should see the added news item.

Press PF3 or clear to exit the Add News facility.

To update a news item:

Type NWSU on a clear screen or on the blank line of the PF1 choice of the main menu and press enter.
Locate the news item that you want to update by using one of the following PF keys or corresponding option.

To scroll to the previous (older) news item:

PF7 or Option 'P'

To scroll to nest (newer) news item:

PF8 or Option 'N'

To scroll to the latest news item:

PF10 or Option 'L'

To scroll to the oldest item:

PF12 or Option 'O'

Once you have located the correct news item, follow the instructions below for the action you want to take.
When adding a news item, type 'A' in the option field and hit enter. Fill in the information as described earlier in this document for adding a news item.

When changing a news item, type 'C' in the option field and hit enter. Change any of the highlighted fields on the screen and hit enter when completed.

When deleting a news item, type 'D' in the option field and hit enter. You will be asked to confirm the delete using PF3 or cancel the delete using PF9.

When replicating<-#> a news item, type 'R' in the option field and hit enter. You will get a new news item that is the same as the previous one displayed. Change any of the highlighted fields and hit enter.

If a change in the allowable viewers for this news item is also needed, overtype the "Route To:" field before hitting enter. Using PF6 will display the available routing groups for this field. You may select a group by typing an 'S' in front of the group and hitting enter. The list of full or masked userids, termids, and/or Network ID s (LU names) will be displayed for that routing group. You may request the insertion of a routing group to SIUC, Information Technology, Mainframe Systems Team, 618-453-6280.

Press PF3 or clear to exit the Update News facility.

Other helpful PF keys:

PF1 offers help for CICS Morning News. PF3 or Option 'X' ends current news session and returns to previous menu. Clear exits from CICS Morning News.